Local

Muslim leader Dr. Hassan Hathout dies

A funeral service took place today for Dr. Hassan Hathout, a prominent Muslim leader in the Southland. KPCC’s Brian Watt reports.

A funeral service took place today for Dr. Hassan Hathout, a prominent Muslim leader in the Southland. KPCC’s Brian Watt reports.

Brian Watt: For 20 years Doctor Hathout, a devout Muslim, worked at the Islamic Center of Southern California to build bridges between Muslims, Jews, and Christians. He also co-founded the Interfaith Council of Southern California.

Doctor Hathout was born in Egypt 84 years ago. He studied medicine in Scotland and taught in Kuwait before he emigrated to the United States in the 1980s.

He co-founded the International Organization of Medical Sciences. The group provides guidance to religious and secular professionals on controversial medical issues including abortion and genetic engineering.

Hathout’s Web site calls him a physician, ethicist, and poet, a man of God, and a man of love.

Eleven years ago, he delivered the sermon at the first White House celebration of Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Dr. Hassan Hathout died Saturday at his home in Pasadena.